Supervisor John Benoit passes away from pancreatic cancer
Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit, who had been battling pancreatic cancer, died over the Christmas holiday weekend, one day before his 65th birthday.
Benoit, who represented the eastern two-thirds of Riverside County, including the Coachella Valley, “passed away peacefully” last night at his home in Bermuda Dunes, according to a county statement.
Benoit announced last month he would be scaling back his workload after a CT scan uncovered a growth on his pancreas and spots on his liver and lungs. He was later diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Benoit’s term expires at the end of 2018. Gov. Jerry Brown has the sole authority to appoint his successor. The Fourth District is the county’s largest, almost 5,000 square miles inhabited by more than 400,000 residents.
Benoit, a Bermuda Dunes resident, graduated from Notre Dame High School in Riverside as well as Riverside City College. He also earned a bachelor of science degree in public safety from Cal State Los Angeles and a master’s in public administration from Cal State San Bernardino. He also attended the FBI National Academy.
Before going into politics, Benoit spent 31 years in law enforcement, including the Corona Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. He worked patrols in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Bakersfield before settling in the Coachella Valley in 1988 after being promoted to commander of the CHP’s Indio Station, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. He retired from the CHP in 2001.
CHP officers at the Indio station expressed sadness after hearing about Benoit’s death.
“He retired as the commander and captain of the CHP office in Indio. He was well liked and well respected by the people who worked for him. When I heard about the news today, I was very sad, and I actually talked to the senior officers who worked directly under him and they were very upset to hear about the news as well,” said officer Mike Radford.
Benoit’s first elected office was as a board member of the Desert Sands Unified School District. In 2002, he ran for state Assembly as a Republican and served three terms in that chamber before being elected to the state Senate in 2008.
In 2009, then-Supervisor Roy Wilson stepped down, citing declining health. Before his death in August, Wilson asked his fellow supervisors to endorse Benoit as his replacement. In November 2009, then-Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger appointed Benoit to serve the remainder of Wilson’s term.
In February 2013, he co-sponsored a resolution with Supervisor Marion Ashley endorsing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
One of the most controversial issues to arise during Benoit’s tenure was Liberty Quarry, an open-pit mine proposed for the hills above Temecula, the Press-Enterprise reported. Supervisors initially rejected the quarry in 2012, but Benoit, a quarry supporter, managed to resurrect the project and put it on a planning fast-track.
That angered then-Supervisor Jeff Stone, who represent the district where the quarry would be built. Stone, a quarry foe, accused Benoit of meddling in his district and started intervening in land-use projects in Benoit’s district. The two later settled their differences.
Benoit made it a point not to take a strictly partisan view on matters. In October 2016, he defended his endorsement of state Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, despite a county GOP policy that barred elected Republicans from endorsing Democrats.
“I think our goal should be to broaden our approach, not draw lines in the sand,” Benoit said at the time. “I’ve lived my life believing in free enterprise and the value of an economy based on competition. There are times when good people rise and share the same values even though there’s a `D’ in front of their name.”
Benoit is survived by wife Sheryl, whom he married in 1978, two children, Sarah and Ben, two grandchildren, and two brothers. Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
Funeral services have not been announced.
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CNS contributed to this report.
